Azaspiracids (AZAs) are one of marine toxins that cause food poisoning with a primary syndrome of diarrhea. They are produced by toxic dinoflagellates belonging to the genera Amphidoma and Azadinium. Azadinium spinosum is known to produce AZA1, AZA2, AZA11 and AZA51 as the dominant toxins. There have been few investigations on AZA profiles in A. spinosum isolated in coastal waters in Japan. To investigate AZA profiles in A. spinosum isolated from Japan, a methanolic extract of a culture strain was analyzed by several LC/MS/MS techniques. Although known AZA analogues were not detected in the A. spinosum strain, four new AZA analogues were detected in the strain. Three of the four new AZA analogues have a structure lacking one methyl group attached to the cyclic amine.
Ozawa et al. (Fri,) studied this question.